Perryville, AR

Perryville is Perry County’s seat in central Arkansas, set near the Fourche La Fave River and the roads leading northwest from the Little Rock area. The county gave land for a permanent seat in 1841, and a log courthouse went up on the site almost immediately. That courthouse burned, more buildings followed, and the current brick courthouse—built in 1888—still serves the county at the center of town.

ATTRBrandonrush / CC BY-SA 4.0

The courthouse is the obvious landmark, but Perryville’s local map has a few other pieces worth knowing. The town’s schools run from early childhood through Perryville High School, the Max Milam Library belongs to the Central Arkansas Library System, and the river crossing has long tied the community to the surrounding farms and roads. The Arkansas Goat Festival, started in 2016, gives the city a newer annual marker in City Park. Think of Perryville as a small county seat whose identity is built from an unusually persistent courthouse, a river valley, and the school, library, and festival calendar around it.